What is NB-IoT and how is it applied within IIoT applications?

The NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) technology identifies a standard LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) radio protocol designed for communications to a wide range of interconnected devices. Given the incredible growth of the IoT, NB-IoT technology has a great development as a result; the changed global situation due to the pandemic has indeed accelerated new perspectives for IoT. Thanks to this low-power technology, a large number of IoT devices can be connected using existing mobile networks and thanks to its low power consumption and optimal bandwidth management, NB-IoT offers the possibility of transmitting bidirectional data efficiently, safely and reliably.

What are the technical specifications of the NB-IoT protocol?

Narrowband IoT is designed to operate using narrow spectrum bands (180 kHz or 200 kHz). Among the strengths of this technology is not the high connection speed (which is not essential for the purposes of the project), but rather the stability of the connection: the NB-IoT standard allows transfers of up to 250 kbit with a latency of 1.6 to 10 seconds. NB-IoT is a cellular technology and can work in three different ways to ensure communication:

• using the GSM band (standalone);
• using and sharing the LTE band (in-band);
• using the spacing between the LTE band thus maximising the communication spectrum (guard-band).

What are the main technologies used for IIoT applications?

The Internet of Things market has been growing exponentially for several years, bringing with it the development of new technologies and communication protocols, also at industrial level. Here are some of the main technologies emerged for IIoT applications:

• MQTT
• LoRa/LoRaWAN
• BLE
• NB-IoT

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What are the benefits of NB-IoT technology?

The main advantages of Narrowband Internet of Things technology are the stability of the connection and the simple use of resources. NB-IoT-enabled devices can remain disconnected from the network until there is data to be transmitted, at which time a connection is established that can be maintained for a configurable time, data is transmitted and disconnected. NB-IoT is extremely reliable, not least because it does not have to share bandwidth with other technologies.

What are the possible applications of NB-IoT technology?

The NB-IoT network is one of the most widely used in industry, agriculture, healthcare, logistics and, above all, within projects dedicated to smart cities and intelligent cities. In agriculture, the need to communicate and analyse a large amount of data in an integrated way to give greater precision and reliability to agricultural techniques is emerging with increasing strength: climate measurement, livestock monitoring, soil analysis, pollution checks and many other uses. In the health sector the aim is to remotely monitor patients in order to offer a real-time assistance and prevention service. Within smart industry projects, the aim is to optimise production and logistics by controlling and processing information in real time. As far as smart cities are concerned, however, the applications are multiplying and cover different sectors: from the management of security systems to the measurement of consumption, passing through the management of intelligent lighting and the analysis of pollution.

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What are the Digimax proposals dedicated to Narrowband Internet of Things technology

Digimax is always attentive to the development of new technologies and offers some specific solutions dedicated to the NB-IoT standard within its wide range of products for industrial automation applications.